Career Opportunities
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Movie Reviews of Career Opportunities
Movie Review: frank whaley yeah!
Summary: 3 Stars
This movie looks like it was filmed when the script was half written. As a result, the second half is a drag. But it's worth seeing for Frank Whaley, who's one of the the most natural, charming comic actors to appear in a long while.Movie Review: Only if you like Jennifer Connelly
Summary: 3 Stars
I couldn't stand Frank Whaley's character, and I despised the script, but I liked Jennifer Connelly a lot. So, if you are a fan of Connelly's this is a must see - otherwise, a must to avoid.Movie Review: Lame comedy is redeemed a bit by Connelly and a few moments of real feeling
Summary: 2 Stars
The lame old joke goes that you watch this movie for two reasons - both well in evidence in the box cover reproduced here, right above Frank Whaley's head. For some reason I own this John Hughes-written, Bryan Gordon-directed flick, but I'd never watched it all the way through. I remember when it came out on video, working in the video store and having a Connelly-crazed coworker who had to put it on all the time, and getting so irritated by the soundtrack and the just plain stupid music-video feel of the thing that I vowed I'd never watch it straight through - despite my own attraction to Ms. Connelly's...uhh...talents.
Well, it's not actually as bad as I feared. Bad, yes - particularly the beginning 20 minutes and a similar chunk at the ending. I don't know if it's Frank Whaley's Jim Dodge character that is incredibly annoying, or Whaley himself, and I don't know if Hughes wanted him to seem AS annoying as he is - probably not. He's a 21-year-old compulsive liar always talking himself up who still lives at home in a small town somewhere near St. Louis who ends up in a night clean-up job at Target - after being fired from innumerable other positions. One thing I found particularly irritating was that the guy seems to belong to a completely different family than the one he is actually a part of - his speech, his intellectual pretensions, just don't jibe. Not that such things don't happen, but it's played entirely for laughs here and is never remotely convincing.
The humor, in fact - this is supposed to be a "comedy" after all - is what doesn't work, and surprisingly what really does succeed is the sentimental element that comes into place when Dodge finds that Connelly's rich-girl character Josie McClellan is locked in with him, and starts to bond with her over their mutual dissatisfactions with life. Here in the central part of the film we get to see Jim's egotistical bluster fade away and Josie starts to appear as something more than an object of desire. And the dialogue about hopes and aspirations here is actually some of Hughes' better work I think - both Whaley and Connelly seem more natural and at ease during this section, and for a few moments the film starts to approach the kind of feeling that we find in THE BREAKFAST CLUB.
Alas it doesn't stay on that level for long, and a subplot about a couple of incompetent (yet supposedly vicious) criminals (Dermot and Kieran Mulroney) that break into the store and threaten the kids is played entirely for broad laughs, and very poorly at that. And Connelly's many cleavage shots and the infamous scene of her riding a coin-op horse really get to be obnoxious and borderline offensive by the end - which is entierly predictable if even more poorly staged than I would have guessed.
If you're watching this because of fantasies about the young Jennifer Connelly then - well, I guess it might be worth it. And if you find the typical John Hughes adolescent/young male arrogance and snottiness - think of Jim Dodge as a just slightly older Ferris Bueller from the sticks - more bearable than I do, you'll probably like this. Even Connelly can't quite redeem this for someone like me who isn't crazy about John Hughes' take on youth and comedy, but at least it's short, and it does have it's moments.
Movie Review: Yes, It Definitely Has Jennifer Connelly In It
Summary: 2 Stars
I watched this movie for the first time in many years the other day and had to come to this board to see the comments. Just as I thought, a lot of guys oogling Jennifer Connelly. And with very good reason. This movie was the worst in the John Hughes collection, but I can't tell you why because I didn't care a thing about the plot or the lead male character or the robbers or even John Candy, of whom I was a very big fan. I just know that Jennifer Connelly is an absolute doll in this movie, whether it be on roller skates or on a mechanical dime-store horse (especially a mechanical dime-store horse). In fact I think she comes across sexier here than she does in The Hot Spot, where she shows even more of her assets.Alas, today Jennifer Connelly has gone the way of Calista Flockhart and lost the babyfat and become a serious actress, even carting home an Oscar, but her role in Career Opportunities will be the one remembered by fans years from now.
Movie Review: Unfunny movie not worth the price of a ticket
Summary: 1 Stars
This was the bomb movie of 1991. It's about a guy who gets a job in a Target, and is promoted to being the night crew assistant manager, and about a girl who decides to get herself locked inside the store after it closes. This is supposed to be a classic John Hughes movie, but it falls flat as it's either an old plot, or the actors/actresses weren't right for the movie. It's boy meets girl, and they spend the night trying to get acquainted with each other, hoping their hormones will be their guides. Let's face it this was even worse than "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", and I think that was the ultimate bomb, so this is how bad I feel about this. I feel that they should've just shelved this, and left it there.